*NEWS*SONAR LINK IN DOLPHIN BEACHING ?

Possible sonar link in dolphin beaching probed Submarine was conducting exercises a day before
incident March , 2005

MARATHON, Fla. –
The Navy and marine wildlife experts are investigating whether the beaching of
dozens of dolphins in the Florida Keys followed the use of sonar by a submarine
on a training exercise off the coast.

More than 20
rough-toothed dolphins have died since Wednesday’s beaching by about 70 of the
marine mammals, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary spokeswoman Cheva Heck
said Saturday.

A day before the
dolphins swam ashore, the USS Philadelphia had conducted exercises with Navy
SEALs off Key West, about 45 miles from Marathon, where the dolphins became
stranded.

Navy officials
refused to say if the submarine, based at Groton, Conn., used its sonar during
the exercise.

Sonar could pose
dangerSome scientists surmise that loud bursts of sonar, which can be
heard for miles in the water, may disorient or scare marine mammals, causing
them to surface too quickly and suffer the equivalent of what divers know as the
bends — when sudden decompression forms nitrogen bubbles in tissue.

“This is absolutely
high priority,” said Lt. Cdr. Jensin Sommer, spokeswoman for Norfolk, Va.-based
Naval Submarine Forces. “We are looking into this. We want to be good stewards
of the environment, and any time there are strandings of marine mammals, we look
into the operations and locations of any ships that might have been operating in
that area.”

Experts are
conducting necropsies on the dead dolphins, looking for signs of trauma that
could have been inflicted by loud noises.

Several dolphins
were euthanized after blood tests showed 13 of them were “not likely to recover
at all and that they are suffering,” said Laura Engleby, a biologist with the
National Marine Fisheries Service.

“Some were still
not swimming on their own, and they couldn’t hold themselves up,” Denise Jackson
of the Marine Mammal Rescue Team said.

More than 60
rough-tooth dolphins beached themselves Wednesday on flats and sandbars about a
quarter mile off Marathon. Rescue teams moved the dolphins to a nearby canal
where veterinarians have been conducting medical tests.

The remaining 31
live dolphins were being given Pedialyte — a drink normally given to dehydrated
human babies — and fresh water, Jackson said.

Teams planned to
move them by Saturday morning to rehabilitation facilities along the Keys or on
the mainland, officials said.

Rough-tooth
dolphins normally inhabit deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic
Ocean.

Marathon, in the
middle of the Florida Keys, is about 46 miles east of Key
West.